Reports: Notebook From Colo. Shootings Suspect Arrived At School After Attack

July 26, 2012

A “suspicious package” that the University of Colorado’s medical school in Aurora says was delivered to the school on Monday was “a notebook sent through the mail by suspected killer James Eagan Holmes before [last] Friday morning’s massacre,” The Denver Post reports.

The Post says it confirmed that news with “a law enforcement official.” And it adds that “Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, CBS News, NBC and CNN reported law enforcement sources [said] that the notebook contained drawings about a massacre and was sent to a CU psychiatrist.”

Wednesday evening, the university’s Anschutz Medical Campus knocked down an earlier Fox News report that the package had been delivered to the school on July 12 — eight days before the shooting rampage at a movie theater in Aurora, that left 12 people dead and 58 wounded — and had gone unopened. In a statement sent to reporters, the school said:

“Officials at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus can confirm that the suspicious package discovered at the Facilities Services building on Monday, July 23, 2012, was delivered to the campus by the United States Postal Service that same day, immediately investigated and turned over to authorities within hours of delivery. This package prompted the building’s evacuation at 12:26 p.m. and employees were allowed to return by 3:06 p.m.

“The anonymous Fox News source that the package was received on July 12 and sat on a loading dock is inaccurate.

“We remain unable to discuss anything further on this package in accordance with the order of Judge Sylvester on July 23, 2012.”

If the package did indeed contain a notebook Holmes filled with drawings about the massacre, its discovery is reminiscent of the April 2007 delivery to NBC News of a package sent by Virginia Tech killer Seung-Hui Cho.

Cho, who killed 32 people at the school, sent photos and videos to NBC in which he talked about what he was going to do. That package arrived two days after the Virginia Tech attack.

Support for NEPR.net is provided by:

Participate

Take a tour of the Springfield headquarters of NEPR! Free, public tours take place monthly at 5 p.m. on Thursdays. The guided tour will take you through the NEPR newsroom, studios, music library and technical operations room, and will tell you about our history and mission.